Next Hearing Set for Ex-Broker Charged With Murder of BofA-Merrill Exec

The preliminary hearing scheduled for May 8 for ex-broker Anthony Duwayne Turner, charged with the murder in 2021 of his former colleague and ex-girlfriend, Bank of America-Merrill executive Michelle Avan, was postponed, according to Greg Risling, a spokesman for Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón.

The preliminary hearing will now be held at 8:30 a.m. in Department/Room 122 of the Los Angeles Superior Court in Van Nuys, California, Risling told ThinkAdvisor by email on Wednesday.

Although the court’s website usually lists when the next hearing in each case is scheduled to be held, it said on Thursday that there were no upcoming scheduled events related to this case. Although the site still listed a scheduled May 8 preliminary hearing at Department/Room 107 of the Los Angeles Superior Court in Van Nuys, it also listed a May 9 preliminary hearing, albeit a “trailed” one.

The word “trailed” means it was “continued to another date,” Risling explained on Wednesday.

A so-called Pitchess motion was granted to Turner last year so that he and his attorney could inspect a police officer’s personnel file for any evidence of misconduct.

Defense attorneys often make a Pitchess motion during the pretrial process, when they suspect that police may have acted improperly by, for example. filing an inaccurate police report. When granted, a judge typically releases any information they believe is relevant about the police officer in question to the defendant.

Avan’s Death

Avan was a managing director at Merrill Lynch for 22 years before being promoted in June 2021 to head of BofA’s global women’s and underrepresented talent strategy, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Turner, of Westchester, California, was arrested Aug. 5, 2021, and released a few days later, after posting $2 million bail, the Los Angeles Police Department and a Gascón spokesman for Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón told ThinkAdvisor at the time.

Turner was charged with felony murder and first-degree residential burglary in his former girlfriend’s death, according to a spokesman for Gascón.